How To Take Back Your Attention

Tools To Reset, Be Present, And Connect With Your Life

We live in two-second segments of time. Imagining that we experience our lives in such fragmented pieces may sound unbelievable. But whether we realize it or not, it’s true. 

How can we know this? 

If you look to any algorithm expert, especially social media, they will tell you that a post needs to grab the viewer's attention within one to three seconds. Otherwise, the viewer will keep scrolling in search of something that makes them pause. 

Interestingly, @creators, the Instagram page (created by Instagram) to support people who make content on their platform flat out, says this in many of their posts. Their data experts tell creators to do something “engaging” in the first second of their videos to get viewers to stop and watch more. 

Since I have what is considered a large Instagram following (500K people), Meta has reached out and offered me meetings with their data scientists so I could ask questions. One of the things I learned in these meetings is that they don’t really control the algorithm. It evolves on its own and Meta studies it. That’s why they say things like “Our research shows…” when talking about their own platform. 

So, what can we take from this? The algorithms that mirror our behaviors are responding to billions of users' scrolling habits. The data is in, and the results show we live in two-second attention intervals. 

Why is this bad?

If we live in short intervals of attention, we never feel present, grounded, and at ease in our bodies. Constant darting attention keeps us in a state of shallow readiness. Essentially, this is a digital fight or flight mode. We aren’t able to breathe deeply, reflect on what we are thinking and feeling, and build intentional habits that will make our lives richer. Instead, we will feel irritated, uneasy, bored, and as though we’re trapped in a paper-thin universe that’s set to autopilot. 

What can we do?

The first step is to notice how short and unrestful our attention spans have become. Pay attention to your digital and physical habits. Watch for when you’re mindlessly moving from app to app on your phone. See yourself trying to read an article designed to irritate you (remember, engagement!) while eating what could have been a delicious meal–if you had been present to enjoy it. 

After we start noticing how much modern life has vaporized our awareness, we can begin creating space for ourselves. By creating space, I mean slowing down, breathing deeply, expanding the body and mind, and allowing oneself to simply be present in this moment—for longer than one to three seconds at a time. 

My favorite ways to build a presence in life

Building presence is about inserting moments of breath and mindful space across your daily experience. Eventually, it will add up to a lot, and you’ll find that it gets easier and easier to stay consistently present over time.

Here are a few practices that I love using to stay present:

1. Mini-hold moments: As we go through life, there are little moments through the day where we are waiting. Maybe that’s standing in line at a coffee shop, sitting at a red light in a car, riding in an elevator, or waiting for our lunch order to be ready. There are tons of these moments. You just have to watch for them. 

   When you notice you’re in one, use that opportunity to put away your phone and take several deep breaths. Relax your shoulders. Refresh your eyes. Look deeply at the world around you and melt into now. You’ll be surprised at what you can discover.

   What’s cool about using these mini-hold moments to reset is that it becomes a habit. At first, you’ll have to pay attention for them, then intentionally decompress and come back to the present. But after some practice, you’ll start to do it automatically whenever you’re in a situation with a few extra moments to spare. 

2.  Scramble the apps on your phone: I’ve noticed that sometimes I open my phone and launch an app without even thinking about it. Then, I’ll look down and realize I’ve subconsciously opened Instagram. Or, after I close an app, I’ll reactively open another one the second the previous one closes. Fortunately, my mindful awareness is sturdy enough to notice this behavior when it happens–and laugh at how absurd it is. 

   When I see myself doing this, I rearrange the apps on my phone, changing the position of the icons on my home screen. Doing this makes it so that you can’t mindlessly open apps. You have to look at your phone, figure out where the app you want to open is, and then open it. Doing this creates a space of several seconds, which gives you the time to realize what you’re doing. Then, you can mindfully choose if you want to open TikTok for the twentieth time today or if you’d rather stretch, take a few breaths, and go for a lovely walk outside. 

3. Break the mold: We hold tension in our bodies. The shoulders, back, stomach, and face are the main areas we constantly hold tight. We do this in response to what we are feeling. When our mind is tense (in digital fight or flight mode), we tighten the muscles in our bodies in a subconscious effort to “armor” ourselves from the tension we are feeling in our minds. 

   Consciously doing mini-stretches throughout the day is incredibly rewarding. When you notice you have a moment, mindfully loosen up your muscles. In other words, break the mold of your mental tension by loosening up your body. Now, you don’t have to go full-on yogi in these moments. We’re talking about gentle, subtle stretches that you can do anywhere. 

Here are a few of my favorites.

1. Turn your head side to side to stretch your neck. 

2. Relax your shoulders and gently try to touch your left ear to your left shoulder, then your right ear to your right shoulder.

3. Bring your shoulder blades down and push out your chest, relieving the tension in your back. 

4. Twist your spine by turning your shoulders all the way to the left, then all the way to the right.

Making it a habit to do any of these movements throughout the day will serve you well. By consciously loosening up the tension in your body, you’re releasing the tension in your mind, returning to the present moment, and taking charge of your attention. 

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I’m incredibly grateful to share that I’m co-owner of Pulse, the first mindfulness smart ring! The ring uses gentle vibrations to help you stay focused, remind you to be present, and guide you during meditation.

Read more about Pulse here: https://pulsemindfulness.com

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